Duplicate accessions: clusters, not accusations
Near-matches often come from kindness — a re-gift entered twice — not from carelessness alone.
When two lines share a title, a dimension, and a donor surname, it is tempting to declare one “wrong.” We prefer clusters. A cluster says: these records might describe one holding; here is why; here is which identifier looks older or better evidenced.
Common sources we see in Hong Kong
- Interns re-typing gifts under a new house style
- Digital folders duplicated during a NAS migration
- Paper accession books continued in a spreadsheet without a cross-check
What a sweep does not do
It does not delete. Merging is a governance choice. The sweep’s job is to make that choice cheaper by showing the evidence side by side.
Preparing your export
Include retired numbers if you still have them. Some “duplicates” are intentional historical aliases — and those should stay linked, not collapsed.